Everyday environmentalism : creating an urban political ecology / Alex Loftus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Loftus, Alex.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban ecology (Sociology).

Political ecology.

Environmentalism.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 165 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2012]

Summary:

Everyday Environmentalism develops a conversation between marxist theories of everyday life and recent studies of urban political ecology, arguing for a philosophy of praxis in relation to the politics of urban environments. Grounding its theoretical debate in empirical research on specific struggles to obtain water in the informal settlements of Durban, South Africa, and in the creative acts of insurgent art activists in London, Alex Loftus builds on the thinking of key marxist theorists to redefine "environmental politics."

A marxist philosophy of praxis-that world-changing ideas emerge from the acts of everyday people-undergirds this ambitious book. With the assistance of such philosophers as Lukács, Gramsci, Lefebvre, and others, it reformulates an ecological understanding of the environment in which everyday subjectivity is at the heart of a revolutionary politics. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Urbanization of Nature

Neil Smith and Posthumanist Controversies 1

2 Sensuous Socio-Natures

The Concept of Nature in Marx 21

3 Cyborg Consciousness

Questioning the Dialectics of Nature in Lukács 45

4 When Theory Becomes a Material Force

Gramsci's Conjunctural Natures 75

5 Cultural Praxis as the Production of Nature

Lefebvrean Natures 109.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780816665716

0816665710

9780816665723

0816665729

OCLC:

759910059